Jack of All Trades
by hallythelantern
Summary: When Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino stay up late to play Slapjack and it gets bizarrely competitive. One shot for Miraculous Fluff Month.


Adrien was excited.

This was the first time that his father had allowed a sleepover - a sleepover! He had only seen it from movies and heard of it from people online, and no, he did not count Chloe.

His mother and Chloe's mother had been close ever since he was little and thus they had been acquainted with each other ever since he was little. This also meant that his father had approved of their friendship even before it had started. Since Chloe was more of family than friend, it wasn't a friendship that was done from his own accord and was one created from pure circumstance and perhaps necessity. But this - this was different. They were his friends not because someone else had told him to be; they were his friends because he _wanted_ them to be.

Therefore when his father allowed him a sleepover knowing fully well that Nino was going to be there, Adrien had been _ecstatic_. Although his father had said some things about how hopefully "Miss Dupain-Cheng will keep him in line" which had undoubtedly generated a frown from his son, Adrien was hopeful that this would be the start of something good. His father was warming up to the DJ; he was sure of it.

He really appreciated Marinette's efforts to make sure that he was going to be, without a doubt, at the sleepover. Even though the girl was still shy and rambled when she was with him, Marinette had been a big part of making this sleepover possible. She had offered her room for the sleepover, contacted Gabriel Agreste multiple times to persuade him to let his son have a sleepover with his three friends, and asked Adrien about any allergies (excluding feathers) he had to make sure that the stay would be as comfortable as possible.

He had been floored to know that someone could go to such lengths to just make a person feel welcome.

He was grateful to have Marinette in his life.

He entered the bakery at 7PM and was immediately squished into a body-crushing hug.

"Adrien, my boy! You're here!" the burly man laughed.

"Hello, Monsieur Dupain," Adrien gave a smile. Some of the syllables escaped his lungs and his voice cracked on the "pain."

"There is no need; call me Tom!" Monsieur Dupain grinned widely.

"Thanks… Tom." Oh god, was _he_ awkward.

Monsieur Dupain - Tom, Adrien reminded himself - only chuckled, which Adrien guessed was a good sign.

"How have you been?" he said softly.

It shocked Adrien.

"Uh… good, sir."

Monsieur Dupain - Tom - laughed.

With Adrien still in his arms, Tom craned his neck towards the stairs. "Marinette! Adrien is here!"

"Send him up, papa!" _Papa?_

Monsieur Dupain - Tom - chuckled. "Okay, honeybuns!"

Adrien chuckled. _Honeybuns?_

"Paaaaapaaaaa!" a whine came from the stairs.

At his daughter's lament, Tom laughed the biggest laugh that Adrien had ever had the pleasure of witnessing. His chest moved up and down at the involuntary action, which rocked Adrien back and forth. He had mirth in his eyes as his mouth moved as if he was speaking something without words.

It was as if Adrien was transported back in time. In this moment, he was four again, in his mother's laughing arms, with her head tilted back and laughing from the top of her lungs as she carried a tired Adrien from the woods.

He liked it. A lot.

"Oh!" Tom suddenly said. "I'm sorry," he put Adrien down gently. Tom averted his gaze from him, rubbing his nape sheepishly. The familiar gesture did not go unnoticed, and Adrien beamed. "I must have, uh, gotten carried away, have I?"

"It's not a problem, Monsieur Dupa-Tom." Mirth danced in Adrien's eyes.

Tom's sheepish look became a warm and gentle smile. "Well then, what are you waiting for, son? Marinette is waiting for you!" he pat Adrien's back, giggling at the words.

Adrien raised a brow but did not comment.

* * *

When he climbed the stairs to Marinette's room, Adrien was first greeted by Nino, who saluted him from the carpet next to the chaise. Marinette smiled sheepishly at him from the chaise, while Alya gave him a wave from the underneath the umbrella that decorated it.

He sat down next to Nino Indian style, tilting his head up to look at the girls. He noticed that Marinette scooted to give Alya space.

"So, uh," Adrien began, chuckling nervously, "What are we doing?"

Alya grinned. "We're deciding on that right now. Is there something that the newbie would absolutely _die_ to do? Telephone? Truth or Dare? Horror Movies? Cards Against Humanity?"

"Uh…" Adrien began. "What's Cards Against Humanity?"

A collective gasp went around the room.

Alya stood up. "You don't _know_ what Cards Against Humanity is?"

"Uh…" Adrien began. "Is that a problem?"

"Girl," Alya tapped Marinette's side. "We have to play Cards Against Humanity with this poor, innocent cinnamon roll.

"Alyaaa," Marinette began, "But-"

"No buts. We are playing."

Marinette groaned.

Adrien braced himself for whatever was going to come.

* * *

According to the rules, Adrien was supposed to be the Card Czar. But because he was new to the game, thankfully his friends gave him an out.

He didn't understand what some of the cards meant, but he found himself enjoying the game and laughing along with his friends.

However, Nino was undoubtedly was the one who had had the most fun. It was, after all, his coughing from his continuous wheezes of laughter that made the group take pity on the poor boy (and concerned for his health) and move on to something else.

They did a lot of things. They did Karaoke in the most ridiculous voices possible (with the help of helium balloons for him and Alya. Marinette, unsurprisingly, did not need any to make the most entertaining sounds, while Nino sucked, to put it in the most gentlest of words, even with helium), Charade (Marinette excelled here, while no one was surprised by Adrien's skill. Alya chose the funniest impressions from popular culture, which Adrien got right most of the time. Alya had looked at him with a bizarre fascination, Marinette had been shocked, and Nino had just shook his head with a smile in his face.), Never Have I Ever with water.

They were now having a dessert break, when Marinette clapped her hands together, pieces of her eaten eclair still on her lips. "I know!" Marinette said excitedly. "Let's do Slapjack!"

The room was filled with silence.

Alya frowned. "No."

"Come on, Alya! We did Cards Against Humanity!"

"Which you enjoyed, girl!" Alya frowned. "I _know_ I'm not going to enjoy Slapjack, what with _you_ here."

Marinette frowned.

"Slapjack?" Adrien asked.

"It's a card game. Whenever you see a Jack, you slap it and get the cards," Alya rolled her eyes. "Winner is the person with the most cards."

Marinette's eyes danced with joy and looked at Adrien expectantly with hope. _Pleeeeeaaaaaasse?_ It seemed to say.

Which was cute, he had to admit. But why was she asking _him_?

"I want to play," he finally said. "Sounds fun."

Marinette squealed with delight. Adrien's brow rose, and he was unable to fight off the grin on his face. That was surprisingly cute.

Alya sighed. She dragged her body down to the carpet, now face to face with him and Nino. Marinette followed. "Oh all right," she said. "Is that okay with you, Nino?"

Nino sighed. "Sure. Whatever." He sounded entirely detached from the situation - or more, trying to detach himself from the situation to brace himself for inevitable hell.

Adrien wondered just what war of a game could make these two sound so defeated.

* * *

"Okay," Alya breathed. "Here we go," she said as she shuffled the playing card deck.

Her hands looked as if they were flying, Adrien thought with astonishment. He didn't see any cards being in her hands when she shuffled, and it the shuffling done in such quick successive motions that all of it was a blur. He wasn't even sure he had _seen_ Alya's hand move.

However, despite it being so fast, Alya never looked as if she was concentrating or having a hard time. It was as if shuffling cards were second nature to her.

Which made it even the more intimidating.

She then slammed the shuffled deck of cards onto the carpet and created a bridge that crumbled down and made a sputtering noise. A blur of cards later, a freshly shuffled and perfectly straight deck was created.

One by one, Alya's hand circled the group with a flick of her wrist as she left cards in her path. A rhythm was created from there, the cards passed in a circular motion, the next round faster than before.

Before he knew it, Alya was left with no cards in her hands.

Adrien looked down at his lap, where his cards were. They were all face down in one big pile. He picked them up, careful to not see them like his friends had told him not to, and collected them into his hands. He silently wished he could see the cards, but that would have been cheating and Adrien did not like cheating.

"Make sure that you have all thirteen cards," Alya said.

He counted his cards (resisting the temptation to look, once again) and indeed had thirteen.

"Everyone ready?"

He gulped. Alya made it sound like they were going into a battlefield.

He nodded in agreement reluctantly. The only one who looked ecstatic was Marinette.

"Okay. We'll do a _warm-up round_ to let _Adrien_ get _acquainted_ with the game," Alya said, eyeing Marinette. Marinette either ignored Alya or was too caught up in her ecstasy to notice. "And _then_ we'll start the _real game_."

"Okay," Alya sighed. "Let's go," she said, and flipped over her card as she gently placed the card down. It was a ten of spades.

Nino went next. It was a six of hearts.

Adrien put his down slowly and warily. His shoulders were hunched from nervousness. His was a two clover.

Marinette's was a seven diamond.

Alya put down a four of hearts.

Nino put down a jack of clubs.

 _Wait, what was he supposed to do when-_

Slap!

He looked down at the hand that had claimed possession of the cards. The owner of the hands was a smug-looking Marinette.

She grinned mischievously and dragged the cards over to her area.

She now had a lot more cards than they did, he noticed. That meant that Marinette was winning, right?

" _Mariiiiii_ ," Alya whined. "I told you that this is a _warm-up round_. As in, you're loosening up your muscles and going _easy_?"

Marinette grinned a Cheshire Cat smile. His eyes widened at that; Adrien hadn't even _known_ she could make those kinds of faces. "But I _am_ going easy, Alya," she said, amusement evident in her tone. "You're just slow," she teased.

Okay, he _definitely_ didn't know _this_ Marinette.

Alya huffed. "This is why we-" she began to grumble.

"Uh…" he turned towards Nino, cupping his hands so that Marinette and Alya wouldn't see his lips. "What just happened?" he asked lamely.

Nino chuckled. "Marinette is _super_ competitive, man." That surprised Adrien. But then again, she had been extremely excitable in Charades... "And this game brings out the worst - or best, depending on your view - in her."

"So… you've played this game before?"

"Of course," he chuckled. "I usually end up being the first to lose," he said lightheartedly.

"Maybe I can follow you after," Adrien joked.

Nino laughed.

* * *

Adrien gently placed his card to continue the game. It was a king of diamonds.

He felt a whip of air around him and turned right to see a Marinette almost slamming her hand on the card. However, he stopped as soon as she rose her hand.

She smiled sheepishly at him. He could see a tint of red on her cheeks.

 _Ooookay_ , he thought.

Marinette then put down a queen of hearts.

No one moved.

Alya then went. Hers was an ace of spades.

Nino's was a nine diamond.

His was four spades.

Marinette's was eight clover.

Alya's was queen of clovers.

Nino's was an ace diamond.

His was… something that had a face on it, and when he double checked mentally in his mind, he saw that it was a jack. He slapped it.

He grinned widely at his friends for his first win. (Of course, it had been from his own pile and he had had home field advantage, but did that _really_ matter?)

Marinette shot him a shy smile and Alya looked at him with a questioning smirk. Nino's facial expressions were unfathomable to him.

"Congrats, man," Nino said.

Adrien beamed. "Thanks!"

Marinette then let down an eight heart.

Alya then put a five diamond.

Nino then dropped a six of spades.

His was a five clover.

Marinette's was queen spades.

A hand whipped up around him, but instead of to his right, it was to his left.

It slapped the cards, but it came up as fast.

Nino groaned. "I was _sure_ it was a jack!"

Marinette smiled shyly. "Sorry, Nino."

Nino frowned in disappointment.

Alya's was a six of clovers.

Nino's, an ace of hearts.

His, a three diamond.

Marinette's, a ten clover.

Alya's, seven of spades.

Nino's, a jack of diamond.

He raised his hand to lay his claim to the pile when-

 _Slap!_

Adrien saw a hand the color of chocolate laying claim to the stack.

Alya grinned deviously.

" _Baaaabe_!" Nino whined.

"All's fair in love and war, darling," Alya winked at Nino.

Nino frowned.

Adrien chuckled and Nino scowled at him. Marinette was also having trouble containing her laughter.

Recovering from his brief moment of mirth, he placed his. It was a two of spades.

Marinette's, a king of hearts.

Alya's, a four clover.

Adrien could now see that Nino's deck was pitifully small. Could one _donate_ cards to a person?

Nino's next card was a king of spades.

Adrien's was a queen of diamonds.

Marinette's, a king of clovers.

 _There's an awful amount of the face cards,_ Adrien thought. _Will a jack appear?_

Alya's was a ten of diamonds.

Nino's was a four of diamonds.

Adrien's was a seven of clover.

Marinette's was a three of hearts.

Alya's was a seven of hearts.

Nino's was a ten of hearts. Nino now only had two left.

Adrien's was a nine of spades.

Marinette's was a two diamond.

Alya's was… definitely not a number, he judged, and there weren't that many face cards, he remembered.

Slap!

Adrien lifted his hand, only to see an ace of clover.

He frowned.

"Sorry, Adrien," Alya snickered. "Better luck next time," she teased.

That made him irritated.

Nino was down to his last card when he put down a nine of clover. Adrien could practically see that his best friend was _praying_ for a jack.

Adrien put down an eight of spades.

Marinette put down something that looked like a jack…

Adrien's eyes widened. A jack! But when he raised his hands to slap the deck, a pale hand was already on top of the cards.

Slap!

Marinette groaned. She lifted her hand up.

It was a queen of spades.

"WHY?!" Marinette lamented. "WHY," she sobbed dramatically. "The world is so unfair to me."

Alya rolled her eyes, but the smile gave her away. "There, there," she said, patting her best friend's back. "Everything will be okay."

"No, it won't!" Marinette yelled, but they all knew that she was grinning. She was overemphasizing and/or acting for comedic effect. "Everything is NOT alright. Alya. It's _terrible_ ," she groaned and fake sobbed at the word.

Adrien was amused at how she could take a game of cards this seriously (or un-seriously?).

Marinette raised her head to look into Alya's eyes. Marinette grinned. "How was my impression of Chloé, Alya?"

Alya smiled. "Wonderful, Marinette. You deserve the Oscars for that."

Marinette giggled. "Thanks, Alya."

It was amusing, Adrien thought, to say the very least.

* * *

Nino was down to his last card, and judging by the way most of the Jacks had been in his possession, Adrien was betting on his _life_ that the last jack was in Nino's.

And so, he scooted closer to the card deck and leaned in, ready to pounce. He channeled his inner Chat Noir.

Alya set down a two of hearts. He sighed inwardly. Not a jack. He was likelier to be right.

And now, here was _the_ moment.

Adrien looked with his peripheral vision at his best friend to see Nino's eyes darting this way and that, obviously on guard and trying to protect his sole possession. It was the look of a person who had been stripped of everything but a single piece of cloth tied around their waist when they had lost their bets. Nino's eyes looked with wary as he, hands still shaking, rapidly _slammed_ the card down, ready to slap whenever needed.

However, Adrien was faster from his years of fencing and an entire year of dodging akumas. He had the upper hand - or in this case, lower hand, he thought with glee.

Adrien slammed his hand down the pile faster than Nino could blink.

He tilted his neck up to see his best friend's astonished expression.

Adrien smirked.

Nino's hand was now hanging with no apparent purpose by his side instead of being on top of Adrien's like it had been before.

Adrien raised his hand up slowly, savoring the moment. How many cards had it been? Judging by how big the deck was, it was a lot. And it was all his, he licked his lips with anticipation.

His hand was now up in the air, and he could see the card clearly. It was a-

A _six of diamonds?!_

 _A_ six _of diamonds?!_

"What… what…" he sputtered, mouth wide open.

" _Sorry_ , dude," Nino said with a sadistic grin. "Turns out it was not what you expected."

Adrien whipped his head to Nino's and and Marinette giggled to themselves.

He sighed in frustration.

And then he remembered that this was just the warm up.

He took a deep breath and placed a card down on the deck.

It looked like a face.

His heart sped, bracing himself to attack. A moment's hesitation was all it took to lose, and thus he wouldn't allow for an opening-

It was king of diamonds.

He sighed, his shoulders now loosening.

Marinette then put down an eight diamond.

Alya put down a nine of hearts.

Nino put down nothing. He just scanned his surroundings like a lost puppy.

Adrien put down a queen of hearts, but saw a brown hand on top of him. Nino smiled at him sheepishly.

He smiled sympathetically at his best friend.

Marinette put down a five of spades.

Alya put down an eight heart.

Adrien, an ace of spades.

Marinette, something that looked like a face…

But if he hesitated now, he would lose.

Slap!

His hand was on top of Marinette's before he knew it.

He looked up the arms to see her… _blushing_? And the red color got even redder the longer he stared into her cerulean eyes.

Time stood at a standstill and he decided that her hand was quite warm and soft. Very delicate.

"Um…" Marinette whispered. "Adrien…" Slightly shivering, Marinette looked down at his hands, which was still on top of hers.

He flicked it away as if he was stung by a bee. "Sorry!" he said. The hand that had been on top of Marinette's now went to his nape, where it was scratching the neck from embarrassment. His hand felt like it was on fire, and so the neck only reddened as a result

And _why_ was his face so warm?

Marinette smiled gently, but also still flustered, at him, the redness in her cheeks still evident. Then, she lifted her hand up to reveal a jack of hearts.

The shy smile that she had shown him now turned into full-blown confidence as her eyes glowed with joy. "Yes!" Marinette pumped her fist.

She then stood to do a victory dance, swinging her hips and arms back and forth.

He didn't know why (after all, he had lost to her), but he enjoyed seeing Marinette so happy about her win.

* * *

Nino was now out, but because this was a warm-up round, the four of them started a new game so that he could play again.

This time, Marinette shuffled the cards. Unfortunately, he didn't see her _actually_ shuffling because Nino kept giving Adrien these… _looks_.

Nino waggled his eyebrows.

"It's not like that, Nino," Adrien said for the millionth time, only this time substituting the word Plagg for Nino.

" _Sure_ it isn't," he grinned mischievously.

God, Nino even had that _tone_ down.

What was with people around him trying to get him together with Marinette? She could barely _talk_ around him! Sure, he thought that she was cool and that she was incredibly brave, what with standing up to Chloé and all (which confused him even more, because why then, was she so shy with _him_? He was nothing special.), and that she looked cute, but that was about it.

There was only one person in the world this cat's heart was set for, and that was Ladybug.

Adrien sighed in defeat. There was no point in trying to convince Nino otherwise. Even if he told the DJ of his crush on Ladybug, Adrien was sure Nino would try to dissuade him from acting because Adrien didn't have a chance, what with him being a civilian and all.

He chuckled at that. He _wasn't_ a civilian, though. He probably had the most chance with Ladybug than anyone else in the city, _combined_.

When he turned his head to see Marinette still shuffling, he noticed that she did it with as much skill as, if not more, than Alya had. She even did fancy shuffling methods that he had never seen before in his life.

He had never known that card shuffling could be an art form.

After they each counted thirteen cards, the game was on.

Marinette started by putting her card first down.

Slap!

The sound sent a slight ringing in his ears from how fast the whatever it had been had sliced the air.

 _What… what just_ happened _?_

He looked at the deck of cards to see the pale hands of a certain designer.

Marinette lifted her hand to reveal… a jack of hearts.

Marinette smirked at her friends in self satisfcation. She had known, he knew, and she had gone for it before anybody else could have.

Everyone, except for Marinette, _gaped_ in surprise.

Marinette had been so _fast_. How had she, in less than a tenth of a second, seen that her card was a jack and slapped it?

Even _he_ couldn't imagine doing that. And he had taken _years_ of fencing and also superheroed as a side hobby. Not to mention near-perfect vision.

It seemed… _inhuman_ , if he were to be honest. Which was a lot, coming from a superhero.

"What's wrong, guys?" Marinette smirked. "Cat got your tongue?"

That was it. Adrien sputtered out incoherent sentences in reply.

* * *

After the shock settled down, Adrien, fingers still trembling slightly, put his card down on the empty carpet. It was an ace of spades.

Nino then put his: a five diamond.

Alya then put hers: a ten clover.

Marinette then put hers: four hearts.

Adrien then put his: a seven spades.

Nino then put a three spades down.

Alya then put a nine spades down.

Marinette then put a king of spades down. Alya's had had been ready to slap, but stopped mid-way.

He then put a two of hearts down.

Nino put an eight of hearts down.

Alya put a six of diamonds down.

Marinette put a card down that wasn't a number, he was sure. He braced himself, raising his hand slightly to give him an advantage.

When he saw that it was an ace of clovers, however, he put his hand back to his sides. Marinette smiled at him, cheeks still tinged pink. Or was that the way she usually was?

 _Focus,_ he thought, and put another one of his card down. It was a two diamond.

Nino put his down quickly, which was a seven clover.

Alya put hers down, which was an eight diamond.

Marinette put hers down. Four.

He put his down. Nine.

Nino then put his down. Five.

Then Alya. Three.

Then Marinette. One.

Then he did. Six.

Then Nino. Four.

Then Alya. Six.

Then two.

Then ten.

Then two.

Then eight.

Six.

Seven.

Two.

Three.

Seven.

Face

Slap!

Adrien felt something other than card decks underneath him. It was warm and was curvy and…

Was a _hand_?

He looked down and saw that, indeed, his hand was covering a small and pale hand.

How… _how_ had it gotten under his? It was his turn, so he had home field advantage, didn't he?

He looked at her, bewildered. She didn't even look like she was nervous, or gasping for breath, or anything!

How was this _possible_? What made this girl possess such incredible speed? Was she stung by a radioactive cheetah or something?

He lifted his hands from defeat. Marinette's soon followed, but for the exact opposite reason.

The card was now revealed, but he didn't feel a thrill of joy coursing through him.

It was a queen of diamonds.

He breathed deeply, in and out. Not loud to the point that Marinette could hear, but loud enough for him to hear. He tried to calm his erratically beating heart.

Nino set down a card.

Face, he saw.

Slap!

His hand was now underneath Marinette's.

He grinned at that; even superspeed sometimes couldn't win.

He grinned at her with the most innocent smile he could muster. Marinette frowned but her cheeks were tinged red.

When he lifted his hand after Marinette had, he was delighted to find that it was a jack of spades.

Victory was sweet.

He counted the 20+ cards and added them to his stack of cards. It felt good, he thought, being so full of cards that his hands were having trouble keeping them all contained.

* * *

However, after this, Marinette _dominated_ the game, despite Adrien having the most amount of cards of the four. There was no other way to describe it.

While Marinette was able to keep her cards and gain some by using her superhuman speed to slap all the jacks before him almost every single time (and some queens and kings too, but that never dissuaded her. The determination and dedication she had towards the game was admirable, he had to admit.), Alya and Nino, unfortunately, had gotten the short end of the stick. They retired from the game far too easily; it was when Adrien was at about his thirtieth card that Alya and Nino had run out of _any_ cards to play with. And with the ruthless way Marinette slapped, even _Adrien_ was scared for his life.

It _definitely_ made him look at her in a different light. A totally different one.

He bit his lips in frustration, thinking about how he could possibly beat Marinette, while Nino and Alya both rooted for him in the sidelines. It turned out that the blogger had a _very_ competitive edge to her too, unsurprisingly. And the one thing that Alya wanted to do most in the world, at this moment, was _beat_ _Marinette_. Thus, Adrien was the unfortunate one who was stuck carrying out Alya's ambition, and Alya tried her hardest to help him win, from getting excited when the game went long without anything being resolved to cheering him on and saying encouraging words to him. It helped him keep up his morale, and the longer he got Alya's support, the more optimistic he became.

However, while he _did_ appreciate Alya's support, it was intimidating after the first few minutes. It was great to have a voice telling you that you can win, but it was not great to have a voice telling you that you should win. It brought up bad memories of his father, but Adrien did not say anything.

When Alya had soon learned that the only way Adrien could win was if Marinette was not at her best, however, Alya had moved on from shouting encouraging words in his ears to distracting Marinette. Even with his objections, Alya tried to disorient Marinette with jabs to the side or by telling inside jokes that Alya cackled at. Marinette had blushed the first time and had been flustered, which he was (with somewhat of disgruntlement but more with glee) able to take advantage of and win a deck. However, the same trick did not work the next time, and in fact, it was as if Marinette became absolutely immune to the jabbings and any other underhanded tactics that Alya had up her sleeve.

Alya's nervousness and obsession with winning became worse as Marinette and Adrien kept putting down numbered cards.

Two.

Five.

Eight.

One.

Three.

Two.

Nine.

Ten.

Seven.

Six.

Four.

Five.

Two.

Seven.

Five.

Nine.

One.

Face.

Slap!

Marinette's hand was, once again, under his, much to his frustration. When she raised her hand from the cards to see, however, he was relieved to find that it was a King. Hopefully, next time it would be better.

Two.

Six.

Three.

Eight.

Four.

One.

Face - no, Queen.

Nine.

Ten.

Six.

Seven.

Seven.

Face - no, King.

Face - no, Queen.

Queen.

King.

Queen.

King.

Jack.

Suddenly, his shirt rose up, clouding his field of vision.

"What-" he began to say, but he was cut off with a hitch in breath from Marinette's direction.

He had yet to hear a slap.

"Come on, Marinette," Alya sang with…smugness? He couldn't see, not with the shirt blocking his view. "Aren't you going to hit that?"

"No!" Marinette screamed. She sounded mortified, terrified even. Adrien frowned, his hand still hanging in midair. _What's_ happening _? And what happened to competitive Marinette?_

"Are you sure?" Alya asked with a devious hint in her tone. Whatever it was, she was enjoying it too much. "Because I'm sure that _he_ would hit it for you if you don't."

"No!" Marinette cried. "No! I'm not going to! And I don't _want_ him to!"

"Do you _really_?" They were still talking about cards, right?

"No!" She cried. "I mean, yes! I-" she let out a shaky sigh. "I'm not ready, Alya!"

He heard an exaggerated sigh of exasperation. " _Okayyyyy_ , fine girl. He'll hit it for you, I'm sure. Adrien?"

"Yes?" he didn't know which direction to look in, so he just looked up.

"Alyaaaaaaaa!" Marinette whined.

"Would you hit it for her?"

Suddenly, his shirt was back to normal and he dropped his hands with relief. That was beginning to hurt.

Alya winked at him and pointed to the deck of cards. He also saw a scarlet red Marinette, in the general direction, sitting in shame. Her hand was _not_ up.

He had _no idea_ what was going on, but the deck of cards was just _sitting_ there.

 _It's a pity,_ he decided.

Thinking that it was his chance before Marinette could recover from whatever that had been, he slapped the card deck. This was just a game anyways, and so it didn't matter _who_ won, right?

"Yes!" Adrien pumped his fists. Marinette no longer had any cards left, which meant that _he won!_

For some reason, Marinette became even redder.

Marinette returned to her non-red self a few minutes later.

"Alyaaaaaaa!" she stomped in frustration. "That wasn't _fair_!"

"All's fair in love and war, my dear," Alya winked at her. "Besides, you got quite a view, didn't you?"

Adrien felt like he _shouldn't_ _want_ to know what was going on.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the lesser quality! I feel like I could have made this better but oh well. Writing this in five/six hours was hard enough.

I hope I didn't make Slapjack sound boring! Although the rules _are_ quite simple, I must admit.


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